Tegas hastens Bumis’ participation in technical field

KUCHING: The Bumiputera Trust Fund (Tegas) is set up to hasten the involvement of Bumiputera youths in the technical field which is known to be able to generate higher income for them.

Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office (Promotion of Technical Education) Datu Len Talif Salleh said that Tegas’ main goal was to promote technical and vocational training among Bumiputera youths, especially those in rural areas.

“We want it to be the vocation of choice among our youths. We need a transformation in human capital because SCORE (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy) will transform the state into the richest state in the country by 2030,” he said at the launch of Tegas at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here yesterday.

Len Talif explained that the target were youths in the 16-45 year bracket having minimum education.

“The first group comprise those with minimum educational background… those who are not sure about what they want to do, single mothers who are looking for opportunities to improve their livelihood and those who want to add value to their current job.

“The second group is meant for school leavers and the third group for unemployed graduates who have an interest in entrepreneurship,” he said.

According to Len Talif, who is also Tegas’ chairman, only 10 to 15 per cent of 35,000 students sitting for SPM every year managed to continue their studies at a higher level.

“Therefore, there are about 30,000 school leavers who are still looking around for work. They are the human capital we need to transform into technical workers,” he said.

Besides promoting technical education, Tegas would also help coordinate learning expenses of technical students with agencies such as MARA, National Higher Education Fund and Yayasan Sarawak, he added.

During the launching yesterday, Nirwana Education group presented an allocation of RM5 million for the 1Malaysia Scholarship to the state government, to allow SPM leavers from Sarawak to further their studies at colleges under Nirwana Education Group.